The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) announced today it has awarded MD Anderson Cancer Center with its 2022 Grace Award. The award, which is named for AHIMA founder Grace Whiting Myers, honors organizations that demonstrate excellence in health information (HI). AHIMA presented MD Anderson with this honor at the AHIMA22 Global Conference on October 12 in Columbus, Ohio.
More than 90 years ago, Myers founded the Association on the conviction that advancing the quality of patients’ health records advances the quality of healthcare. AHIMA continues the annual recognition of the Grace Award to honor healthcare delivery organizations for their innovative and novel approaches to using health information to deliver high-quality patient care.
“MD Anderson is extraordinarily worthy of the 2022 Grace Award,” said AHIMA CEO Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE. “Its HI team is advancing patient safety through critical process improvements, ensuring data integrity, and building strong teams by fostering an environment of continuous learning, and volunteer service at the local, state and national levels.”
The Grace Award Committee noted that MD Anderson has dedicated resources to HI leadership and professional advancement through coaching and mentoring, elevating their own people, supporting students, and offering health information management and coding apprenticeships. They also support employees who desire to volunteer at the state and national level, teach in their communities, and author toolkits.
“Not only does this recognition symbolize the devotion of the whole team at MD Anderson, but it exemplifies the impact the AHIMA member body has on the healthcare ecosystem outside of the traditional hospital setting,” said Stephen Young, RHIA, MBA, MSIS, 2022 AHIMA Grace Award Committee chair.
